


Observances

by sonofthestars



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Background Relationships, Drabble, Fluff, M/M, Meteorstuck, Other characters are mentioned briefly, i wrote this at like 3 AM, not proofread
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 11:09:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10920603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonofthestars/pseuds/sonofthestars
Summary: "Dave wasn’t stupid. He also wasn’t oblivious or purposefully unobservant. There was meaning behind every action a troll made, a calculated way of relaying specifically what someone meant to them."Aliens are weird, huh?





	Observances

Dave knew that there would be cultural differences between humans and trolls; it made sense for there to be. The oddest things to him weren’t that their pupils dilated based on their mood, or that their blush was a dark grey and not tinted their blood color. It wasn’t even the horns or teeth that startled Dave the most because those differences were to be expected- they were aliens after all.

The biggest thing that threw Dave off was that trolls in quadrants were so openly affectionate. Even the hatemates couldn’t keep their hands off each other (despite that holding hands meant digging claws into the other’s palm or that kissing cheeks meant weird-ass hickies). He was fascinated to watch how a species that apparently rarely spent time around each other out of risk of death were so comfortable with their quadrantmates. That was the biggest sign really.

Dave wasn’t stupid. He also wasn’t oblivious or purposefully unobservant. There was meaning behind every action a troll made, a calculated way of relaying specifically what someone meant to them. There was meaning in the way Karkat pushed himself up on his tiptoes to hold either side of Dave’s face, bringing him down so a gentle kiss could be placed on his nose. There was a fondness in the way Karkat would grab Dave’s hand while they took an insomnia walk. There was no hesitancy, no panic or worry when he did any of that either. So now the question arose: what quadrant?

Asking Rose first was a mistake, she enjoyed teasing him and laughing at him more than actually helping him. Terezi (and consequently Vriska) weren’t any help either, just waggling their eyebrows and bursting into fits of laughter. Kanaya was the last to be consulted. She protested helping, saying that he should have talked to Karkat before anyone else, but she eventually just shook her head and said, 

“I’m sorry Dave it sounds like it could be pale or flush. I’m sure Karkat could answer better than I could."

She did give him a book she drew up for Rose ages ago explaining the quadrants, and he read and reread them until he was an expert on everything but pronunciation. With as little as Dave knew about this shit, asking Karkat without a plan first would've been a disaster. Dave started to hang out with Karkat more frequently as the ladies on the meteor started to stick exclusively to their respective girlfriend. He didn’t fault them, not really, but both he and Karkat got a little stir crazy sometimes from lack of anything else to do.

When this happens, the two tended to make their way to the deeper parts of the meteor until both were too tired to continue. Karkat was a sucker for soft stuff and usually brought blankets and pillows and books while Dave brought food and drinks and something to doodle on. Together they laid out by a big window that radiated the chilly paradox space air, deep in their own work. 

"Karkat?” Dave startled both of them out of silence when he asked one of those nights as they sat in front of each other and worked. 

“Hm?"

“Are we… Are we in a quadrant?” There was a long silence until Dave continued. “I mean I guess we are, but like would it be pale or red 'cause I'm not real sure why they gotta be separate. Like, it’s cool if we aren’t, but you’ve been doin’ that thing trolls do where they kinda koala up, except you don’t know what a koala is and-”

Karkat leaned over and kissed him squarely on the mouth, clumsy and inexperienced and even a touch hesitant. It’s okay, Dave thought, because he didn’t have any experience either. When they broke away out of breath and flushed, they both grinned until their glee turned into laughing. Things would be ok.


End file.
